A new study led by Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers of patients hospitalized with anorexia nervosa shows that a faster weight gain during inpatient treatment—well beyond what national standards recommend—is safe and ...

Johns Hopkins researchers have found that offspring born to mother rats stressed during pregnancy lost weight faster and failed to turn on appropriate brain hunger signals in response to exercise and food restriction, compared ...

Eating disorders have been described in medical literature since the 1870s, but until now there have been no guidelines that codify the best way to treat adolescents affected by these conditions—only guidelines for adults.

Missouri is set to be the first state in the nation to spell out the type of eating disorder treatments that insurance companies must cover, a move advocates say will ensure families have access to care for not just the physical ...

Tens of millions of Americans—an estimated 1 to 2 percent of the population—will suffer at some point in their lifetimes from obsessive-compulsive disorder, a disorder characterized by recurrent, intrusive, and disturbing ...

Jessie is a five-year-old girl who doesn't like foods with much texture or flavour. She prefers to eat foods that don't require lots of chewing, like soup, pasta, or oatmeal. Jessie has difficulty eating a range of foods ...

The number of hospital admissions for UK teenagers with eating disorders has risen by 89% in the past three years, it was reported today. While this is clearly of concern, so too is the quick jump some have made to link this ...

Transgender and non-transgender lesbian, gay and bisexual students are at greater risk for eating disorders, finds a new study from the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis and Washington University School of ...

(HealthDay)—In patients with anorexia nervosa, plasma levels of vitamin B12 might be an early marker of liver dysfunction and are possibly related to more severe psychopathological aspects, according to a study published ...

Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder characterized by an obsessive fear of gaining weight. The terms anorexia nervosa and anorexia are often used interchangeably, however anorexia is simply a medical term for lack of appetite. Anorexia nervosa has many complicated implications and may be thought of as a lifelong illness that may never be truly cured, but only managed over time.

Anorexia nervosa is often coupled with a distorted self image which may be maintained by various cognitive biases that alter how the affected individual evaluates and thinks about her or his body, food and eating. Persons with anorexia nervosa continue to feel hunger, but deny themselves all but very small quantities of food. The average caloric intake of a person with anorexia nervosa is 600–800 calories per day, but extreme cases of complete self-starvation are known. It is a serious mental illness with a high incidence of comorbidity and the highest mortality rate of any psychiatric disorder.

Anorexia most often has its onset in adolescence and is most prevalent among adolescent girls. However, more recent studies show that the onset age of anorexia decreased from an average of 13 to 17 years of age to 9 to 12. While it can affect men and women of any age, race, and socioeconomic and cultural background, Anorexia nervosa occurs in females 10 times more than in males. While anorexia nervosa is quite commonly (in lay circles) believed to be a woman 's illness, it should not be forgotten than ten per cent of people with anorexia nervosa are male.

The term anorexia nervosa was established in 1873 by Sir William Gull, one of Queen Victoria's personal physicians. The term is of Greek origin: an- (ἀν-, prefix denoting negation) and orexis (ὄρεξις, "appetite"), thus meaning a lack of desire to eat. However, while the term "anorexia nervosa" literally means "neurotic loss of appetite" the literal meaning of the term is somewhat misleading. Many anorexics do enjoy eating and have certainly not lost their appetite as the term "loss of appetite" is normally understood; it is better to regard anorexia nervosa as a self-punitive addiction to fasting, rather than a literal loss of appetite.

Latest Spotlight News

Many hormones and neurotransmitters work by binding to receptors on a cell's exterior surface. This activates receptors causing them to twist, turn and spark chemical reactions inside cells. NIH scientists used atomic level ...

If you've had a good night's sleep, you are mentally more alert and your memory works more reliably. During sleep, a part of our forebrain called the prefrontal cortex remains active. It ensures that memories and learned ...

A team of researchers with affiliations to a number of research centers in the U.S. has found that the protein p53 serves as a controlling mechanism for apoptotic (naturally dying) cells through the immunoglobulin Death Domain ...

Follicular helper Tcells (TFH cells), a rare type of immune cell that is essential for inducing a strong and lasting antibody response to viruses and other microbes, have garnered intense interest in recent years but the ...

A study by researchers at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and Duke University helps explain why the candidate vaccine used in the HVTN 505 clinical trial was not protective against HIV infection ...

New research from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health describes a molecular mechanism that helps explain how obesity-related inflammation can lead to type 2 diabetes. The findings describe a surprising connection between ...

In a study conducted at UCLA, five men who had been completely paralyzed were able to move their legs in a rhythmic motion thanks to a new, noninvasive procedure that stimulates the spinal cord. It is believed to be the first ...

In the last two decades, prosthetic limb technology has grown by leaps and bounds. Today, the most advanced prostheses incorporate microprocessors that work with onboard gyroscopes, accelerometers, and hydraulics to enable ...